Barnes & Noble selling Nooks for $99 on eBay

What do you do just before you decide to upgrade your old device with some new hotness? You sell the old stuff on eBay, right? Well, B&N doesn't seem to have any better ideas than you as it's started offering its classic Nook e-reader for $99 on the online auction site, undercutting its own price by $50. This is the WiFi-only dual-screen unit, as you might surmise, not the Color tablet that's been treading dangerously close to being a fully fledged Android slate. If you're an E Ink loyalist on a budget, this might just be the opportunity you've been waiting for, though don't blame us if Barnes & Noble comes up with a fancier, more lustworthy model in the time it takes for that free delivery to reach your door.

eBay

Kobo unbuttons for $129 eReader Touch Edition, hands-on

Kobo today kicked off Book Expo America with the launch of a new six-inch, one-button touchscreen e-reader -- named, appropriately enough, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition. Priced at $130 -- $10 cheaper than Amazon's Kindle -- the pocket-sized device strives for a reading experience more akin to that of old timey paper books, courtesy of a Zeforce infrared touchscreen, new Pearl eInk technology, and a freescale i.MX507 processor for faster page turning. Click on through for more details and our impressions of this little reader.

Kobo eReader Touch Edition Hands-on

The WiFi reader has a new search tool accessible through the virtual keyboard and highlighting technology, which makes it easier to look up words via the built-in Merriam Webster dictionary. This is the same Pearl display found on the latest Kindle, so you should know what you're getting into for contrast, but the responsiveness here is hugely improved thanks to that freescale processor. Page turns are quick and, more impressively, you can open a PDF, zoom in, and scroll around. Sure, it isn't exactly hyper-responsive, but it sure beats PDF reading on the competition and it'll help you save a few reams of paper when reviewing technical documentation. And, since that touch screen is built using IR tech that's built into the bezel, the contrast of the screen doesn't suffer -- a common complaint on the Sony Reader Touch Edition.

Kobo's Touch Edition features syncing bookmark technology lets you pick up where you left off on multiple devices. The Touch Edition has 1GB of built-in memory, expandable up to 32GB with the microSD slot that's easily accessible on the sid. The device supports ePub, PDF, and open standards, so you can take it with you on the next trip to the library. It'll ship next month, in black, silver, blue, and white, dropping the price of its predecessor down to $99. You can pre-order it now from Borders, Best Buy, and Walmart, in both the US and Canada.

Kobo eReader Touch Edition official pictures

Bookeen does real time web browsing and scrolling on standard E Ink screen (video)

Bookeen has already taunted us with an E Ink Pearl display hacked to playback clips of chubby bunnies without so much as a hicup, now it's showing off web browsing and scrolling on the same screen. It's a little stuttery, as you can see in the video below, but considering this is the same tech found in the Kindle it's quite impressive. The trick is accomplished using custom software and off the shelf hardware -- in other words, nothing terribly fancy. So, while we sit here letting out exasperated sighs with every digital page turn, we'll just keep hoping Bookeen gets this in something we can buy soon.

E-Ink Info

Cybook (YouTube)

E Ink and Epson to co-develop 9.7-inch high-res 300ppi electronic paper display

It's pretty obvious that this year's SID Display Week is shaping up to be a stage for the 300ppi extravaganza -- Samsung and LG were first to announce their latest high pixel density LCDs, and then Toshiba chimed in with its 367ppi LCD for cellphones. Fortunately, fans of ePaper will also have something to look forward to here, as E Ink Holdings and Epson have just announced the co-development of a 300ppi ePaper display. To be exact, E Ink will be in charge of producing the sharp-looking 9.68-inch 2,400 x 1,650 display panel, whereas Epson will take care of the high-speed display controller platform to go with E Ink's part. No availability has been announced just yet, but stay tuned for our eyes-on impression at the show.